FULL THE RETURN OF ULYSSES SONG OF MY FATHER (Monteverdi) Washington 2024 INSeries
Information on the Performance
- Work Title: THE RETURN OF ULYSSES SONG OF MY FATHER Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria
- Composer: Monteverdi Claudio
- Libretto: Giacomo Badoaro Libretto Text, Libretto Index
- Venue & Opera Company: CulturalDC's Source Theatre, Washington DC
- Recorded: May 2024
- Type: Staged Opera Live
- Singers: Derek Chester, Elizabeth Mondragon, Elijah McCormack With: Aryssa Leigh Burrs, Janna Critz, Oliver Mercer, Kevin Short
- Conductor: Timothy Nelson
- Orchestra:
- Choreographer: Jitti Chompee
- Stage Director: Timothy Nelson
- Stage Designer: Lawrence E. Moten III
- Costume Designer: Kathryn Lara Kawecki, Ivette Pino, Rakell Foye
- Lighting Designer: Abigail Hoke-Brady
Information about the Recording
- Published by: INSeries
- Date Published: 2024
- Format: Streaming
- Quality Video: 4 Audio:4
- Subtitles: nosubs
- Video Recording from: Vimeo FULL VIDEO
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THIS PERFORMANCE
IN Series’ lauded Monteverdi Trilogy continues with the second installation in the cycle. 2024 is the 60th anniversary of the signing of the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution and the start of official military action by the United States in Vietnam. It was a conflict that would change the face of America forever. The young souls that fought were wounded most acutely in ways that were invisible, and their return home was only the beginning of an epic struggle to live again.
Monteverdi’s second opera sets the story of Trojan War hero Ulysses’ traumatic homecoming from the epic The Odyssey. IN Series will bring this rarely heard masterpiece to life with an expansive work that incorporates a new English text crafted from interviews taken with Vietnam veterans, and the Thai contemporary dance company 18 Monkeys, bringing their unique mix of modern and traditional South-East Asian Kohn dance to the production. Monteverdi’s score will be joined by newly commissioned arrangements of popular Vietnam era songs in the style of Monteverdi madrigals and the words of Vietnamese-American poet Ocean Vuong. An all star cast is led by Derek Chester and Elizabeth Mondragon (Zavala-Zavala) and performers from Orange Grove Dance, and is accompanied by a period instrumental ensemble from around the world. Memorial Day performances offer a moving and unique way to remember and honor the lives and living that was lost in those seas and jungles sixty years ago.